Spanish heart throb Lopez makes surprise early exit

Top seed and Spanish heart throb Feliciano Lopez made a shock first round exit from the South African Open on Wednesday after losing to Canadian Frank Dancevic.

The victor, ranked 201 places below the defending champion, won 6-7 (5/7), 6-2, 7-6 (10/8) in a match interrupted by rain for two hours during the final set.

On a bad day for seeds, third Janko Tipsarevic of Serbia lost 7-6 (7/4), 4-6, 6-7 (4/7) to Jesse Huta Galung of the Netherlands and seventh seed Rainer Schuettler fell 6-3, 4-6, 4-6 to Go Soeda.

The last-16 phase began later as the organizers played catch-up after two days of weather delays and South Africans Rik de Voest and Izak van der Merwe triumphed along with Indian Davis Cup star Somdev Devvarman.

Lopez, a favorite with female spectators at the Montecasino entertainment center, began impressively against Dancevic, winning most of his service games comfortably while Dancevic often held serve with difficulty.

However, the outsider did drag the opening set to a tie breaker won by Lopez and this boosted his confidence sufficiently for him to earn a 6-2 second-set success.

After 12 games with serve in the decisive set, Dancevic wasted three match points in the tie breaker and Lopez one before the Canadian made no mistake when he got a fourth chance.

ZAGREB INDOORS

AP, ZAGREB

Top-seeded Marin Cilic advanced to the quarter-finals of the Zagreb Indoors after defeating Igor Kunitsyn of Russia 7-6 (3), 6-2.